648 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



3. By preventing the accumulation of the patient's own efflu- 

 via, by a constant ventilation, and by a frequent change of bed- 

 clothes and body-linen. 



4. By the careful and speedy removal of all excremental mat- 

 ters from the patient's chamber. 



5. By avoiding animal food, or correcting it. 



" It is not possible to have a number of men in the healthiest 

 state shut up in a place, and their effluvia accumulated, without 

 their becoming noxious, by retention, by the heat which is oc- 

 casioned, and perhaps by some additional fermentation. And 

 this tendency must be increased in the case of hospitals, where 

 there is a particular ferment arising from every sick body ; there- 

 fore certainly the hospital destroys more than the disease would 

 do ; and persons affected with contagious disorders ought if pos- 

 sible to be removed ; and if that cannot be done, it is of the ut- 

 most consequence that a constant ventilation be provided, and 

 every means of cooling and of correcting the air be employed, 

 as fires, various fumigations, the frequent application of acids 

 and other substances, which are found to change and correct it. 



" Nay, from every single person labouring under a fever, 

 noxious effluvia proceed, which, though not very virulent as 

 they arise, by adhering to the bed-clothes in greater quantity, by 

 being more concentrated, and probably by additional fermenta- 

 tion, acquire more virulent powers. From many observations, I 

 am persuaded, that it is seldom that the effluvia directly arising 

 from bodies, even in putrid fevers, are extremely poisonous. In 

 the year 1750 the remarkable jail fever appeared and affected so 

 many persons ; and we know that when forty of these, who were 

 persons of some note, were subjected to this fever in the court, 

 their contagion did not spread to any one of their respective fami- 

 lies ; and it was certainly much more innocent from their bo- 

 dies than as lodged in the garments and clothes of the jail pri- 

 soners ; and very possibly this was owing to their being no 

 fomes provided ; they were by themselves, in chambers which 

 were kept well ventilated ; and other measures were taken to 

 prevent any faults of the air, and particularly the changing of 

 the bed-clothes next the body. And I am so much persuaded 

 that the danger arises from the contagious matter lodged in the 

 garments for some length of time, that I think nothing is of 



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